During the two weeks
by Bookbug Taz
Summary: Missing scene from season 10 Episode 12 The Doctor Falls. What happens after they crash on floor 507?


Missing scene from season 10 Episode 12 The Doctor Falls

What happens after the crash on floor 507?

They are not my characters and I haven't broken them any more than they were already so please don't sue me - I'm not worth anything anyway!

Two weeks. It had been two weeks and he was finally 'allowed' to go out to the barn. Although, in a rare moment of self honesty, the Doctor allowed himself to admit that Nardole and the Battle Axe had been right; if he had tried before now he would have fallen on his face. Just like a few days ago when he had tried to sneak out in the middle of the night. That had been …. difficult…. uncomfortable….. _come on Doctor - honesty_ ok, it had been downright embarrassing.

He hadn't felt this awful for a long time, as evidenced by the regeneration that was waiting just beneath his skin for his control to slip. He couldn't take a breath properly. Being clamped in the the arms of the Cyberman had left bruises that matched some of the great nebulas in both size and colour as well as giving him some cracked ribs. _And that is before you think about the damage that came from being electrocuted_

Reaching the stairs at the front of the house, he paused and gathered his strength. Out in front of the house, the locals were building fortifications and defences for the fight that was about to be upon them. Nardole was in the middle of them, an unlikely looking figure considering the kind of directions and orders he was throwing at people. The bobble of his hat quivered as he turned to see the Doctor on the porch.

"That pile of sand bags needs to be higher. Come on people, keep going." He called as he turned from the lawn and approached the house. He walked to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at the Doctor standing at the top. Taking note of the tight grip on the railing that ran around the porch, the short sharp breaths the man was taking and the look in his eyes that acknowledged everything Nardole had seen and didn't care, Nardole sighed. "So, you making a break for it?"

The Doctor smirked, "No, I actually have permission to leave the porch! Aren't I a model patient."

A snort escaped from the bald man. "That's exactly what I was thinking the other night when I had to pick you up off the floor; isn't the Doctor behaving so well!" A pause and then, quietly, softer than he had ever spoken to the man before, "Are you sure you are up for this?"

"Of course!" The Doctor blustered. "I've been sitting with my feet up for two weeks now! I can't lollygag about forever."

Nardole didn't reply, just held the Doctor's eyes with the same look of concern. The Doctor shot a look at the stone barn to the side of the property and then let his gaze wander across the lawn and the preparations that were well under way and then back at Nardole. Equally quietly, the Doctor sighed and seemed to sag into himself for a minute as he gave Nardole a brief glimpse into how he actually felt.

How the man was still standing, even with support from the now white knuckled grip on the wooden rail, he didn't know. Closing his eyes and straightening up, the Doctor ran his hand through his hair and looked down at the floor of the porch. "Nardole, I …." He paused and took a breath, flinching at the sharp pain that shot through his body. Of course that would be the time his legs, which had been shaky at best, decided to give up the ghost and his knees buckled. _And here comes the floor. Again._

He was getting quite well acquainted with the floor in the last few days as he battled his way back from the fever that had been running through him and his muscles had finally loosened enough to actually think about moving. Except this time, there was no floor.

Nardole had already started up the stairs as the older man's legs went from under him and he managed to catch him and drag him to the nearby chair where he squatted down in front of the Doctor, whose face had got frighteningly pale, the cuts on his forehead seeming even more vivid. "Easy, I've got you. Just breathe….. that's it."

The Doctor visibly gathered himself and opened his eyes as the Battle Axe came through the front door. Spotting the pair, her eyes narrowed as she glared at the Doctor sitting in the chair and then softened as she looked at Nardole in front of him. "Everything ok out here? Not you." She said as the Doctor opened his mouth to speak. "I know what you're like." She looked at Nardole with a smile. "Well?"

Nardole risked a quick look at the Doctor as he climbed to his feet. "Fine." He said, trying to look innocent. "All fine. The Doctor is gathering himself before he goes to the barn. It's likely to be a difficult conversation, you know."

Hazran glanced briefly at the barn to one side of the yard. Her face paled slightly and, although she made a valiant effort to hide her fear, it still shone from her eyes. "Yes, well… I don't want you to go undoing all of my hard work from the last couple of weeks, you know."

"And believe me," the Doctor started, "I, for one, do not want to endure another minute of your hard..."

"I'm keeping an eye on him." Nardole interrupted, shooting a glare at the Doctor which clearly meant 'if you don't stop talking, I will let her have you!'

Hazran's eyes narrowed again before she huffed, threw her hands in the air and went back inside muttering about boys and eagerness and running before they can walk. Which might have been a literal warning for the Doctor.

As the door shut behind her, the Doctor whispered "Give her 10 minutes in front of a Sontaran fleet and she would have them scrubbing the decks and doing the the laundry." Nardole chuckled at the image and the Doctor cracked a grin too, clutching at himself as a laugh made his side twinge.

"Yeah, I bet she would even give River a run for her money."

"Or even worse, they might have become friends and then you and I would not know what had hit us!" The Doctor stopped and looked off into the distance, eyes full with thoughts of curls, winks and a throaty laugh that made his skin tingle at the thought. Actually, his skin was tingling! Looking down, he saw the back of his hand start to glow. Clamping his other hand over it, he took as deep a breathe as he could and forced the regeneration energy back down _not yet….not yet_. "Is it too much to hope that you didn't see that?" the Doctor asked, studiously avoiding Nardole's eyes.

"I thought that had stopped. That you were getting better."

"I am," he said firmly. "Give me a week in the TARDIS and I'll be right as rain."

"But we don't have the TARDIS now, do we?"

The Doctor looked away. "We also do not have time for this. Any of this. You know what we are facing as well as I do. We have to be ready. We have to push on. We do not have the luxury of being able to wait until everything is fine and if you don't believe me, just ask Bill."

Now Nardole was the one that looked away. When they had arrived, the villagers had been insistent that, if they wanted help, the Cyberman was not welcome. They had been arguing about that when the Doctor had regained consciousness. It was only after he had made a mental link and 'sedated' her that he had been able to convince them that Bill _she's not a Cyberman, she's Bill!_ was not a threat to them and they had allowed the strange visitors to join them.

" _Whatever you want to call it, it is not coming into the house though." The hard faced woman was very firm. "Put it in the barn. Locked up where it can't hurt anyone."_

" _That's ok for now," the Doctor said, rubbing his forehead and closing his eyes briefly. "She needs rest as much as anyone. Her poor brain has ….. had quite an….. an ordeal." And then he collapsed._

 _After the Doctor had been settled and Nardole had done what he could for him, which wasn't much, he had made his way to the barn to check on Bill. She was laying as they had left her so Nardole dragged her over to the hay and found a couple of old blankets and covered her with them. He had a quick look over the wiring at her chest and the helmet covering her head, grieving as he realised the extent of what had been done to her. The Doctor had said that she was still in there and he hoped that he would have a way to fix her after he was back on his feet._

"Apparently she is awake now. Hazran went down there yesterday. She said she was talking but didn't seem to know what had happened."

"It is probably a defence mechanism." The Doctor absentmindedly rubbed his right knee as he mused aloud. "It happens sometimes when someone goes through something traumatic. Their mind blocks it out so they can continue to function."

"Is there anything you can …."

"No." Quietly. Full of regret. "If the conversion was completed, and it looked like it was…" He pushed up on his knees. Willing the right one especially to hold, he stood wobbling a bit, his hand on Nardole's head to stabilise him and then he limped to the edge of the porch. This body had never liked sitting still which is another reason the last week had been difficult for him. Wanting to move but too weak or in too much pain to do so was exhausting. A fact the the Master knew all too well and had decided to push on. _Speaking of …._

"Where are they?"

"The terrible two? Off wandering the countryside I think. Didn't ask, to be honest. I was just glad they were out of the way."

Nodding, the Doctor's attention was pulled to a girl who bore a striking familiarity to what he would imagine a young Bill Potts would have looked like. She drew attention to herself simply because she was trying so hard to to look inconspicuous as she slipped out of the back of the house and around the edge of the fence and down to the barn. The cloth that covered the bundle she was carrying slipped a bit revealing a shine as the sun glinted off a reflective surface.

The Doctor and Nardole looked at each other. "Uh oh." Nardole breathed. "This could be trouble. You'd better get down there."

With a bracing hand on the railing and the other on Nardole's shoulder, the Doctor made it down the steps and onto the front lawn. He gave the shoulder a squeeze of thanks before releasing him and turning for the barn, watching as the girl unlocked the door and slipped inside.

As he started in a limp across the grass, Nardole watched him go. Battered for sure, but never broken.

A motion at the front door of the house made him look over and he saw Hazran standing in the doorway, watching the Doctor's uneven but steady progress towards the barn. Catching her eye, Nardole shrugged in the Doctor's direction and received a worried smile in return. Even though she knew nothing about the Doctors physiology, even she could tell how close to death he had come last week. The worried looks on the face of Nardole and the slightly mad woman had told her much. She could also tell that he was not as recovered as he was trying to make out and that also worried her. What was coming that he has to push on and not give himself the time to heal properly? She dare say they would find out.

As the Doctor reached the barn and leaned a hand on the doorframe, he listened to the voices coming from inside. The mechanical drone of the Cyberman voice box struggling to convey the words and the passion that Bill was no doubt speaking with and the girls's now slightly panicked voice which seemed to be coming closer. The Doctor took as deep a breath as he could manage, braced himself and straightened as the door opened and the girl ran into him.

"Hey there!" He smiled as he rummaged in his pocket for Jelly Babies. As the girl ran back to the house, the Doctor turned to Bill. Show time.


End file.
